Property briefs

The national housing vacancy rate was 2.2 per cent in July, unchanged since June, but an increase of 8000 homes on the 1.9 per cent rate in July 2013, according to the Sydney-based SQM Research. Melbourne has the highest rate of 2.7 per cent and Canberra and Perth had the highest rise in vacancies over the past year. SQM’s Louis Christopher said the rental market was “slowly but surely" loosening up to reflect the economic realities. Robert Harley

CBRE Agribusiness
has appointed specialist
David Smith
to expand its presence in the Australian forestry sector. Mr Smith is formerly the principal of Virgin Forests and has delivered more than 300 projects throughout Australia. He has been involved in the acquisition of more than 80,000 hectares of rural land with a combined value of more than $170 million. Mr Smith has also held positions at Ecofund Queensland and Willmott Forests. Matthew Cranston

Listed property trust
Growthpoint Properties Australia
has bolstered its boardroom with the appointment of Geoff Tomlinson, who also sits on the National Australia Bank board; chairs the MLC board; and is a director at Calibre Group Limited. He had previously held board roles at
Amcor
and
Dyno Nobel
among other directorships. Mr Tomlinson has spent 42 years in the financial services industry, including six as group managing director at National Mutual Holdings, the forerunner to AXA Asia Pacific.

“Having served on the boards of a number of large listed Australian companies, Geoff adds significant ASX-listed company experience to the Board and his experience in banking and financial services will be useful as Growthpoint continues to expand its asset, debt and equity bases," Growthpoint chairman Lyn Shaddock said. Mr Tomlinson begins his appointment on September 1.

Growthpoint is due to announce its annual results on Monday. Nick Lenaghan